Departing June 9, Ryan Gilhuly and Dwight Smith will embark on a journey , attempting to pedal from the Atlantic Coast, New Haven, CT to the Pacific Coast, Santa Barbara, CA with no amenities, hoping for anything the west has to offer and to raise awareness and donations for the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation's Arthur C. Luf Children's Burn Camp.

A message from the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation

Ryan and Dwight hope to raise $10,000 to support the burn camp, which will host 70 children between the ages of 8 and 18. They are determined to reach the West Coast as a personal challenge as well as helping young burn survivors.

Started in 1991, the Arthur C. Luf Children's Burn Camp is located in northern Connecticut on 176 acres. Every summer, burn survivors come to the burn camp, which is a safe and fun environment that helps kids heal emotionally and physically. The Burn Camp is free to the children, who come primarily from the Northeast and some foreign counteries, but any burn survivor child anywhere is welcome. More than 70 adult counselors, primarily active and retired firefighters and burn unit nurses, occupational and physical therapists, child psychologists and even a doctor will serve as mentors for the week.

It's also our goal to promote burn awareness and fire prevention and education, which we do year around. We sponsor a burn survivor, burned in a car accident that involved speeding and drinking alcohol, who speaks to high school students throughout Connecticut. We also support the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital, helping to purchase equipment.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Three Hills

Three of New Jersey's hills humbled Dwight, on day three. They proved beyond his power, and he had to walk much of them. No problems for Ryan, naturally. Due to navigation problems getting out of the city, it was a slow day. We found our way thanks to Jay, The Bike Sage of Ft. Lee, New Jersey (that's where we met him, any way, after crossing the George Washington Bridge, in a Border's book store, in search of an atlas). I dropped my camera while riding and ran it over with both wheels. This is the last shot I took before the fatal spill. Few vital signs remain (the lens pops out when I turn it on, but not all the way). The end of day three found us in Wyckoff, NJ, about 25 miles from where we started in Manhattan.